ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Commerce has prepared a revised draft of Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25 that would be considered by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Wednesday (tomorrow), well informed sources told Business Recorder.

“There was a dispute between Commerce Ministry and Energy Ministry on the wording of a decision, which will be altered by the ECC,” the sources added.

On January 12, 2022, Secretary Commerce Sualeh Ahmed Faruqui testified before a National Assembly panel that the issue of gas prices for the textile and apparel sectors, assumed in the policy including Captive Power Plants (CPPs), is yet to be resolved.

According to Commerce Ministry, it re-submitted summary on Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25 for consideration of the ECC on October 11, 2021. The decision of the ECC was as follows: “The ECC considered the summary of Commerce Ministry on Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25 and constituted a Committee under chairmanship of Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Secretary Commerce, Secretary Power, Secretary Petroleum, Secretary Finance and Chairman FBR to deliberate on the policy in a holistic manner and submit viable recommendations to the ECC within two weeks for consideration. The committee may co-opt any member as may be required.”

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In pursuance of the decision, the Committee held several meetings and recommended a few changes that have been incorporated by the Commerce Division in the revised draft of the Policy.

Ministry of Commerce has undertaken an exercise of thorough consultations with the private sector stakeholders and proposed to set an export target of $ 20 billion for textile and apparel industry during FY 2021-22 and the target has also been approved by the Prime Minister. The export target for FY 2021-22 is further cascaded till 2024-25 with a projection to double textile and apparel exports to $ 40 billion. However, strong resolve and long-term commitments from Federal Government, robust implementation of policy interventions by relevant Ministries/ Divisions/ Departments and full fiscal support from the Finance Division would necessarily be required to keep intact the due support on proposed interventions throughout the policy years to achieve the set milestones.

According to the first draft, it was proposed that electricity will be provided at Cents 9/ kWh all-inclusive and RLNG at $ 6.5/ MMBTU all-inclusive for the FY 2021-22 and concessionary regime will be continued at regional competitive energy rates for five years after deliberation with the stakeholders.

However, after consultation, the policy was altered with the following: “supply of energy (electricity and RLNG) to export oriented units/ sectors of textile industry at regionally competitive rates throughout the policy years without any disparity among provinces.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022